Microscopic techniques are important tools for determining the presence or absence of a local property and/or a global property of a biological tissue sample. Such techniques can produce images that are immediately interpretable by the user. Large areas of the sample can be examined quickly. At the same time, it is possible to zoom in to a level that resolves details of biological cells. Therefore, the user can, for example, determine very easily that the sample does not look normal.
When a hard determination is required as to whether a local property and/or a global property is present in the sample, the processing of the microscopic images by the user becomes a bottleneck. For example, the examination of histological samples for features that may indicate a disease relies on highly trained and experienced pathologists. The assessment is time-consuming and depends in part on the person who evaluates the images: two different experts may rate one and the same image of a sample differently with respect to the desired property.
Certain publications (for example, T. Meyer, O. Guntinas-Lichius, F. von Eggeling, Gil. Ernst, D. Akimov, M. Schmitt; B. Dietzek & Jü. Popp, “Multimodal nonlinear microscopic investigations on head and neck squamous cell carcinoma: Toward intraoperative imaging”, Head & Neck, Wiley Online Library, 35, E280-E287 (2013)) and (F. B. Legesse, A. Medyukhina, S. Heuke & J. Popp, “Texture analysis and classification in coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering (CARS) microscopy images for automated detection of skin cancer”, Computerized Medical Imaging and Graphics, 43, 36-43 (2015)) demonstrate the principle for determining a property (cancerous tissue) based on coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering, CARS, image, and/or a two-photon excited auto fluorescence, TPEF, image, and/or a second-harmonic generation, SHG, image, and/or the image that results from a multimodal combination of the three images.
However, the computational complexity can be too high for a fast screening, and neither an automatic prediction nor an automatic comparison with a gold standard or reference method has been provided.